ALLERTON (NORTH), a parish in the wapentake of ALLERTONSHIRE,
North riding of the county of YORK, comprising the borough and
market-town of North Allerton, the chapelries of Brompton,
Deighton, and High Worsall, and the township of Romanby, and
containing 4431 inhabitants, of which number, 2626 are in the
town of North Allerton, 32 miles (N. W. by N.) from York, and
224 (N. N. W.) from London. This place, supposed to have been
a Roman station, and subsequently a Saxon borough, is in
Domesday-book called Alvestune and Alreton, the prefix having
been applied to distinguish it from Allerton-Mauleverer. It
was greatly injured, if not destroyed, by Beornredus, or
Earnredus, who, in 769, having invaded the kingdom of
Northumberland, with a view to usurp the throne, burnt the
town of Catterick, about eight miles distant. William Rufus
gave the town, with the lands adjacent, to the see of Durham,
and, under the patronage of the bishops, it grew into
importance, and became an episcopal residence. At Cowton Moor,
about three miles from the town, and within the parish, the
celebrated battle of the Standard was fought, in 1138, between
the English and the Scots, in which the latter were defeated,
with the loss of eleven thousand men: the spot on which the
standard was erected is still called Standard Hill, and the
holes into which the dead were thrown, the Scots' Pits. About
1174, Henry II. ordered the demolition of the episcopal
palace, supposed to have been built by Geoffrey, Bishop of
Durham, and which had been strongly fortified by Bishop
Pudsey; traces of the foundation are still visible on the
western side of the town. In 1318, the Scots plundered and
burnt the town. During the civil war, Charles I., in one of
his journies to Scotland, lodged here in an old mansion,
called the Porch-house; and in the rebellion of 1745, the
English army, under the Duke of Cumberland, encamped on the
Castle hills. The town is pleasantly situated in a valley, and
consists chiefly of one spacious street, half a mile in
length, partially paved, and containing some good houses. It
has long given name to a district called Allertonshire, now
constituting the wapentake. The principal branches of
manufacture are those of linen and leather: the market is on
Wednesday, and fairs are held on February 14th, September 5th
and 6th, October 3rd and 4th, and the second Wednesday in the
latter month. The borough first exercised the elective
franchise in the 26th of Edward I., but made no subsequent
return till 1640, since which time it has regularly sent two
members to parliament: the right of election is vested in the
proprietors of ancient burgage houses, about two hundred in
number. The bailiff, who is appointed by letters patent from
the Bishop of Durham, is the returning officer. The general
quarter sessions for the North riding are held here, in the
weeks after Christmas and Easter, and on the llth of July and
the 18th of October; and there is a weekly meeting of the
county magistrates. The sessions-house is an elegant building,
erected about 1790, annexed to which is a house of correction,
on the plan of Mr. Howard, containing thirty cells. Westward
from the sessions-house is the registrar's office for the
North riding, where the Bishop of Durham holds his courts. The
living is a vicarage, in the peculiar jurisdiction and
patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Durham, rated in the
king's books at £17. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is
supposed to have been built soon after the destruction of the
town by the Scots, in 1318: it is a spacious cruciform
structure, in the decorated style of English architecture,
with a square tower rising from the centre, and adorned with
pinnacles at the angles. There are places of worship for
Independents and Wesleyan Methodists. The free grammar (now
the parochial) school is of royal foundation, but the date
thereof is uncertain: it has a small endowment, and an
interest in five scholarships, founded by Bishop Cosins, at
Peter House, Cambridge, in failure of applicants from the
school at Durham; it has also a contingent interest in twelve
exhibitions to Lincoln College, Oxford, founded by Lord Crewe:
the school-house was rebuilt in 1777. Dr. William Palliser,
Archbishop of Cashel; Dr. George Hickes, Dean of Worcester,
and author of a Dictionary of the Northern Languages; Dr.
Thomas Burnet, master of the Charter-house, London; Mr. Rymer,
editor of the Foedera; Dr. Radcliffe; and the Rev. John
Kettlewell, were educated here. A National school for boys and
girls, and a Sunday school, established in 1787) are supported
by subscription. An hospital, or Maison de Dieu, was founded
in 1476, by Richard de Moore, a draper in this town, for
thirteen poor people; it has been rebuilt at the expense of
the inhabitants, but the number of inmates is reduced to six.
The Rev. John Kettlewell, of St. Andrew's, Holborn, London,
bequeathed, in 1694, an estate in the township of Brompton,
called Low Moor Farm, the proceeds of which are divided among
the poor of North Allerton and Brompton. There are some
remains of a monastery of Carmelites, founded by Thomas
Hatfield, Bishop of Durham; and the site of St. James'
hospital, about a mile from the town, is still visible. There
are also vestiges of a military road leading from Aldby, the
Derticittio of the Romans, through this town to Catterick.
North Allerton, in the reign of Anne, gave the title of
viscount to the Elector of Hanover, afterwards George I.
Edmund Guest, Bishop of Salisbury, almoner to Queen Elizabeth,
was born in this town.